RDTWorldofSport 2016 Wrestling Awards
I don’t have a real basis for this to be perfectly honest. It’s mostly my opinion with some searching around to see what some respected wrestling forums and writers think. Some categories get a Top 5 and some get a Top 3. Why? Because I said so. Also this will mostly be WWE, basically because that’s what I watched 99% of the time. But if something else catches my eye, it could make the awards. With that being said, here goes.
Moment of the Year
Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura Wins the NXT Championship
Nakamura was on fire in WWE this year and didn’t even need to be on the main roster to do so. Nakamura was pretty much a phenom the moment he set foot in NXT. Winning the NXT Championship showed that NXT could get past the Sami Zayn, Finn Balor era, which honestly wasn’t a guarantee. The entire spectacle of the match is fantastic. Nakamura’s entrance with Lee England Jr. was incredible. The crowd was incredible. And when Nakamura hit Samoa Joe with the Kinshasa and won the title, the crowd erupted.
Second Place: Goldberg beats Brock Lesnar in 84 seconds
Third Place: Shane McMahon returns to RAW
Fourth Place: A.J. Styles debuts in the Royal Rumble
Fifth Place: Finn Balor wins the new WWE Universal Championship
Debut of the Year
Winner: A.J. Styles in WWE
There aren’t many ways the Royal Rumble can surprise us anymore, and even those on the inside knew that A.J. showing up in the Rumble was a possibility (since he has just signed with WWE), but WWE surprised us for sure here. A.J. Styles is pretty much the last major star that WWE had never truly had and for him to show up in the Rumble while the current “face” of WWE, Roman Reigns, awaited him in the ring, was truly epic and it’ll be hard for WWE to top that moment in a Royal Rumble ever again.
Second Place: Shinsuke Nakamura in NXT
Third Place: Bobby Roode in NXT
Fourth Place: Bayley on RAW
Fifth Place: Baron Corbin at Wrestlemania
Return of the Year
Winner: Shane McMahon on RAW
With WWE in need of a marquee match at Wrestlemania, the return of Shane McMahon and a match between him and The Undertaker in Hell in a Cell delivered. The crowd erupted for Shane, who hadn’t been seen in WWE for seven years. To my surprise, Shane stuck around after Wrestlemania and is still working for WWE today (as I thought he was just going for the Mania program and leaving). Watch the crowd reaction, it’s insane.
Second Place: Goldberg returns to RAW
Third Place: Seth Rollins returns at Extreme Rules
Fourth Place: Bayley returns to NXT to challenge Asuka
Fifth Place: Randy Orton returns on the Highlight Reel at Battleground
Match of the Year
Winner: A.J. Styles vs. John Cena – WWE Summerslam 2016
It’s amazing to me that Styles vs. Cena somehow served as a midcard feud. This was theoretically a dream match, the face of TNA for the last decade against the face of WWE. Of course, Styles vs. Cena pretty much put the rest of the main roster to shame with several five star performances. Notably, the one at Summerslam, which was at the end of the first hour, absolutely stole the show and made Styles into a superstar. John Cena put Styles over clean in 23 minutes of amazing back and forth action with great false finishes.
Second Place: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn – NXT Takeover: Dallas
Third Place: NXT World Tag Team Championship – Two out of Three Falls: The Revival © vs. DIY – NXT Takeover: Toronto
Fourth Place: NXT World Tag Team Championship: The Revival © vs. DIY – NXT Takeover: Brooklyn
Fifth Place: WWE Intercontinental Championship – Last Man Standing: Dean Ambrose © vs. Kevin Owens
Feud of the Year
Winner: Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks
This feud was red hot to me all year. Understandable some became sick of the feud as they wrestled about six or seven different times on different events and some had also turned on Charlotte as a performer. The only issue I had with the feud was that WWE seemed to be going out of their way to create an undefeated on PPV streak for Charlotte. But otherwise I liked all of their matches and thought Hell in a Cell and the Iron Woman Match were strong. Starting with their triple threat at Wrestlemania with Becky Lynch, it really did feel like Women’s wrestling was becoming an important part of the show. The matches delivered, Women’s wrestling was elevated, and best yet we have a big heel for Bayley to dethrone…then a story if Sasha Banks turns heel on her. And that all spawns from this feud.
Second Place: A.J. Styles vs. John Cena
Third Place: Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens
Fourth Place: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Samoa Joe
Fifth Place: Shane McMahon vs. Stephanie McMahon
Biggest Disappointment of the Year
Winner: Brock Lesnar’s 2016
Lesnar had dominated and was without a doubt the biggest name in WWE pretty much since he returned, and especially since he beat the Undertaker at Wrestlemania XXX. He had a huge 2014 after that, beating John Cena for the title in dominating fashion and despite barely being there still being the biggest star. In 2015 he was a part of two match of the year candidates (triple threat at the Rumble and vs. Reigns at Mania), a feud of the year candidate (vs. Undertaker) and again seemed like his dominate self. What the heck happened in 2016? He kicked off the year with a disappointing Royal Rumble appearance where a feud with the Wyatts seemed imminent. A feud with Ambrose spawned from a triple threat match at Fastlane and the Wyatt’s deal was quickly dropped after Lesnar beat Luke Harper at Roadblock. Match with Ambrose was one of those that hurt both guys instead of elevating or establishing anyone. Came back to fight and bloody Randy Orton in a match that really didn’t seem like a big deal and there wasn’t any follow up. Survivor Series was the last match for Lesnar where he lost to Goldberg in 84 seconds, although that was probably the most interesting thing he did all year. Nonetheless, the aura took a huge hit this year and I’m not sure the product would be any different if he wasn’t here, which is a vastly different statement than you could make in 2014 or 2015.
Second Place: Roman Reigns’ rise to the top
Third Place: Roman Reigns vs. Triple H – Wrestlemania 32
Fourth Place: Wrestlemania 32
Fifth Place: Bayley’s RAW booking
Best Show of the Year
Winner: NXT Takeover: Dallas
Nakamura’s debut vs. Zayn. Balor vs. Joe. Bayley dropping the title to Asuka. Revival vs. American Alpha. Really kinda hard to beat any way you look at it. This totally beat out the following night’s Wrestlemania, that’s for sure.
Second Place: NXT Takeover: Toronto
Third Place: WWE Royal Rumble
Fourth Place: WWE Money in the Bank
Fifth Place: NXT Takeover: Brooklyn
Non-Wrestler of the Year
Winner: Daniel Bryan, Smackdown GM
Bryan as Smackdown’s General Manager has been a fun role for him. He’s helped elevate the Miz back to a level we haven’t seen Miz since 2011. He’s charismatic and a genuine fun part of the show (unlike Mick Foley on RAW somehow, which is baffling considering how great Mick was in this role 16 years ago). Yes, it’s sad that we’ll never see Daniel Bryan wrestle again. But it’s great to see him as authoritative good guy on Smackdown and a big reason that it’s beating RAW out in the ratings.
Second Place: William Regal, NXT GM
Third Place: Paul Heyman, Manager
Fourth Place: Shane McMahon, Smackdown Commissioner
Fifth Place: Stephanie McMahon, RAW Comissioner
Best Surprisingly Good Angle
Winner: Heath Slater gets a Smackdown Contract
Somehow Smackdown put together Heath Slater and Rhyno…RHYNO?!…and that’s become one of the hottest acts in the company. Heath Slater has probably the most underrated guy in the company to be fair as he’s been entertaining in pretty much everything he’s done since getting beat up by the legends in 2013. The entire angle with Slater not getting drafted, to begging for a job on RAW and Smackdown (the Slater-Lesnar segment may have been Lesnar’s best all year, interestingly enough) to finding Rhyno as a partner and winning the Tag titles with him was nothing short of brilliant.
Second Place: Braun Strowman runs through RAW and Sami Zayn
Third Place: Jericho’s List
Fourth Place: Randy Orton joins the Wyatts
Fifth Place: James Ellsworth beats A.J. Styles three times
Woman of the Year
Winner: Sasha Banks (WWE)
Charlotte may be the woman WWE is looking to push as the face to establish the division, and that’s not a bad choice, but the fans have been 100% behind “the Boss” all year and each of her title wins have been met with HUGE reactions. If Sasha Banks can stay healthy, there’s no reason that her and Bayley can’t have a great feud in 2017 (like they did for NXT in 2015) and push the division to even greater heights. With all due respect to Charlotte, that’s where the money is.
Second Place: Charlotte (WWE)
Third Place: Bayley (NXT/WWE)
Fourth Place: Asuka (NXT)
Fifth Place: Alexa Bliss (NXT/WWE)
Tag Team of the Year
Winner: The New Day (WWE)
How could it not be them? While yes, it seems that their star is finally fading, the truth is the New Day is still one of the most over and entertaining acts in WWE. It’s amazing considering just how awful they seemed when they started out in early 2015. They beat Demolition’s title reign record and I hope they can somehow regain some freshness for 2017.
Second Place: The Revival (NXT)
Third Place: DIY (NXT)
Fourth Place: American Alpha (NXT/WWE)
Fifth Place: Health Slater and Rhyno (WWE)
Wrestler of the Year
Winner: A.J. Styles (WWE)
How can it not be Styles? The Face that Runs the Place stepped into WWE and immediately became a top star…then eventually THE top star. He was so good WWE basically had no choice but to put the WWE World Championship on him nine months into his run. He had great matches with Roman Reigns, John Cena and Dean Ambrose on Pay-Per-View. No one is better than A.J. Styles right now.
Second Place: Shinsuke Nakamura (NXT)
Third Place: Samoa Joe (NXT)
Fourth Place: Kevin Owens (WWE)
Fifth Place: Broken Matt Hardy (TNA)
